By Hassan Osman Kargbo
As part of its efforts to support women and girls’ empowerment, the Association for the well-being of Rural Communities and Development, known as ABC Development, Friday April 25, 2025, embarked on popularising women’s rights and laws across Kambia District, north of Sierra Leone.
Speaking at the gathering of the community-stakeholders’ meeting, the Project Manager, Beatrice B. Bangura, said that the engagement is part of their commitment efforts to promote women’s rights and laws since most women in rural communities do not know the basic laws protecting their overall wellbeing.
According to her, the campaign which she leads is tailored towards raising awareness on women’s rights and laws across the district, but specifically targeting Magbema and Munuthallah Chiefdoms; and that the project would expand to other underserved chiefdoms as well as communities afterwards.
She noted that over the years, many laws have come to life that would guide and protect women’s rights; and disappointedly, she said only a handful of women really know the existence of some of those laws, a reason their actions are geared towards popularizing those laws in rural communities such as Kambia District.
“The activity is targeting 30 participants, twenty of whom are women members of the two communities as well as ten male stakeholders residing in those communities,” she said.
She said that the foundation of social justice starts with the youths and women – who represent the maiden population of the country’s total population – to be informed about the review of outdated laws to follow the trends happening around them.
“The objective is to have increased awareness on the importance of women’s rights and laws, roles in decision-making and leadership to promote gender equality through community-stakeholder engagements,” she said.
Adama Sillah, one of the team members, said that women in the rural settings barely know that their role goes beyond the domestic, household function; and that when women do not know their basic rights they cannot demand it and neither can they ask for it when they feel such rights are being infringed upon.
She went on to say that legislative efforts have been done in ensuring that women and adolescents’ rights are protected; and that majority of those laws, according to her, are not simply a guiding instrument but also a powerful tool for empowerment as well as ensure an inclusive society.
She stressed the need for women to increase their presence in local community leadership roles, while deepening their knowledge and aspiration on accelerating their wellbeing, as leadership goes side-by-side with empowerment.
“Let us all work to ensure that the Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (GEWE) Act of 2022 breathes and becomes a very important legislative tool that this country will forever live to celebrate,” she said.
Speaking on the implementation of the GEWE Act of 2022, including other major laws such as the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act of 2024 and the customary Land Rights Act, Foday Mansaray who is also a team member, told the gathering that the laws are there but making them more effective, entirely transformative to the lives of women is what matters the most, adding that constant advocacy, capacity building, coaching and mentorship programs to support women-led initiatives can sustain the law’s implementation.
She noted that women are significant players in ensuring that the future of Sierra Leone’s economy lives its full potential by empowering them and promoting their rights and laws so that they can take their place in society.
“When women’s rights and laws are strengthened and are allowed to take active part in leadership roles, there is likelihood to have a sustained economic growth, while addressing policy and structural barriers to foster their growth,” he said.
After all, the stakeholders pledged to support women empowerment initiatives as well as advance advocacy for the protection of women’s rights and laws in their communities. They expressed delight for such an engagement and thanked ABC Development for making them not only participants but also owning and leading the intervention.
The project is funded by Irish Civil Society Partnership through Trocaire, and is aimed at using women groups to champion the awareness raising campaigns on women’s rights and laws, as well as advocating for those rights which most societies still deny them: Town Chief and Headwoman leadership roles, which their male counterparts still hold.
